Cutting machine



H. H. FREER. CUTTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I 192i.

Patented June 6, 1922.

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H. H. FREER.

CUTTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1'. 192i.

Patented June 6, i922.

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lCUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. l, 1921.

1,419,037. Patenuun@ 6, v1922;4

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'Y fzwenl'or Een@ E. FMH* y f j 2kg d, M r w Moruya :HENRY HOWARD FREEZE., 0F LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

CUTTING MACHINE.

Application .filed-September 1, r1921.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1922. Serial No. 497,578. l

(GRANTED 'UNDER THE PROVISIONS 0F THE ACT 0F MARCH 3, 1921, 41 STAT. L., 1313.)

To all whom i may concern:

Be it vknown that I, HENRY `HOWARD F nnen, a subject of the King of England, residing in Leicester, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutting Machines, fonwhich I have filed application in Great Britain on the 12th May, 1920, No. 13,183, and of which the following is a specification.

-This invention is for improvements in or relating to cutting-machines in which one or more layers of material, for example tanned hides, have shaped Lportions cut from them by means of a cutting-tool pressed through the one or more layers of material.

The type of machine to which this invention relates is that in which the cuttingtool is operated by a vertically reciprocating knife press which is also capable of bodily movement in a horizontal plane in relation to the support for the material to be cut, power driven mechanism being provided to effect the vertical reciprocation and horizontal movement aforesaid.

It has previously been proposed to employ in machines of this type a knife press mounted to swing in a circular arc over the surface of a fixed support and to provide means for automatically actuating the press so that it first swings to a predetermined position over the support surface, delivers its pressure-applying stroke and then returns to its initial or to an inoperative position. In this case the means for determining the operative position over the support to which the press would swing comprised a control member whichl required to be first moved by hand into the predetermined position which it was desired the press should take up in relation to the support.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved machine of the aforementioned type in which the material, after it has been secured on the support, may be cut into shaped portions from any desired part of the material;

According to the present invention a cutting-machine of the type described is characterized by the knife-press aforesaid being mounted for rectilinear movement over the surface of the support, and by a plurality of separate individually manually-operable selective means operatively connected with the power-transmission mechanism to determine the position to which the press shall travel in relation to the support, effect the cutting operation and thereafter return the press to its position of rest.

The particular manner in which the invention is carried into effect will be more clearly understood from the following description of one preferred form of the invention given by way of example with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a top plan of the machine part of the support being removed to show certain portions of the power-transmission mechanism;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows on an enlarged scale a portion of one of the selective devices;

Figure 4: is a section on the line lV-IV of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail on an enlarged scale of the adjusting mechanism of the height of the knife-press; and

Figures 6 and 7 are perspective views of details of the power-transmission mechanism.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

A. fixed support or table 1 for material to be cut is supported at the upper end of hollow standards 2.

A shaft 3, journalled in bearings in the standards 2, has cams i whichV are secured to the shaft to rotate with it and which engage the lower ends of reciprocating members 5 guided in the standards 2. At their upper ends each of the members 5 is con` nected with a cross-beam 6 extending transversely across the table, as shown in Figure 1, and the cross-beams 6 support, by their opposite ends, guide-frames 7.

Running in channels in the guide-frames j 7 are rollers 8 carried in the lower ends of supports 9, one for each corner of a knifepress 10, which is in the formof a fiat plate, and has knives secured to it in any preferred manner so that they project downwardly from the under surface of the plate. rlhe pressflO is adjustable as to its height on the supports 9 in the manner shown particularly in Figures 1, 2 and 5, and for the purpose of accommodating the press to any depth of knife which it may be desired to employ. The upper end of each support 9 is screw-threaded as `at 11 to engage With a correspondingly-threaded sleeve 12, which is, at its upper end, formed as a sprocket 13. Each sleeve 12 is secured Within the press 10 so as to be free to rotate therein butto be held against endvvise movement by means of a shoulder 14 and a nut 15. Passing round all the sprockets 13 is a chain 16 which passes over a central sprocket 17 mounted on a spindle 13 carrying a hand-Wheel 19. Thus movement of the hand-wheel 19 Will effect rotation oi each of the sprockets 13 thereby to adjust the height of the press 10 equally on each of the four supports 9.

Carried in bearings 2O secured at intervals along the length of one'side of the support 1, is a rod 21 and, as shown particularly in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the rod is :turnished with a number of manually-operable devices 22. Each device 22 comprises a sleeve mounted for iotation on the rod 21 but held from endWise movement thereon by means of a pin 23 secured to the rod and engaging Within a segmental slot cut through the sleeve @ne end of each sleeve 22 is guided to slide in the lett-,hand member of the bearing 20, as shown in Figure 3, and each of the sleeves is formed with an abutment 24 which also constitutes a handle by which it may be manually operated.

In conjunction with each device 22 is a member 25 secured to, or formed as, a ilange on the rod 21 and havin cut on its periphery 2 ratchetteeth 26. ne or the other oi. these teeth is engaged by a pawl 27 pivoted at 28 in one ot the bearinganenibers 20.

Each of the selective devices is similarly constructed so that a description of one serves `for all, and it will be seen that by 'the provision of the slots Within Which the pins 23 are engaged, any one of the devices can be turned upwardly 'from its position shown in Figures 2 and 3 to move with it the rod 21 Without, however, moving the other selective devices. By the expression turned upwardly is meant that the abutment 24 can be moved from the position shoivn in Figure 3 to a substantially horizontal'position in which it will extend outwardly from the 4plane oit the paper. ln this latter position it will be disposed in the path or' an abutment 29 on one of the supports 9 ofthe press.

At its end remote from the normal position of the press, shown in Figures 1 and 2, the rod 21 is pivotally connected to a lever 30 which rocks about a pivot 31 supported in a iixed bracket on one of the standards 2 and engaging at its other end at 32 with the operating mechanism of a one-revolution clutch shown `generally at 33. The clutch 33 is such that when it is operated it vvill cause a single revolution only of the shaft 3,

rotate with it.

whereaiter it will automatically become disengaged. Such clutches are Well-known and need no detailed description.

A transverse shaft 34, rotatably mounted in bearings in a bracket 35, has at its opposite ends pulleys 65 connected by driving bands 66 as yshown in Figures land 2 With the knife-press. Thus, rotation of the shaft 34 in one direction will draw the knife-press across the table from right to lei't, While rotation in the reverse direction vvill return the press ,in the opposite direction. Freely rotatable on the shaft 34 are tWod0g-clutch elements 36 and 37, the co-operating members of which clutches respectively are shown at 3S and 39. `lheselatter elements are free to slide on the ,sha'l't 34 but are keyed. to The clutch-parts 36 and 37 are rotatably connected to pulleys 40 and 41 respectively which are belt-connected as at 42 and 43 (Figure 2) to a power-shaft 44. It will b'e seen that oi'i the belts 42 and 43 one is directly connected and the ojtl`1er is crossconnected to the clutch-pulleys so that the latter Will rotate in opposite directions.

As shown in detail in Figure 6, the rod 21 has an ar1n45 connected by means of a rod 46 to a bell crank lever having arms 47 and 48 and pivotally mounted at 49 in the bracket 35. A rod 50 connects the arm 4S with the clutch-member 38. y

The clutch-member 39, as shown particularly in Figure 1 is operated by one arm 51 ofV a bell-crank lever, the other arm 52 of which is connected with a rod 53 (see Figure 7) to an arm 54 at the upper end of a spindle 55 carried in bearings 56 on one of the standards 2. t `its .lower end the spindle 55 has au arm 57 carrying a roller 53 which engages with a cam 59 secured to rotate with the shalt 3.

p Another arnrGO at the upper end of the spindle 55 is pivotally connected b v a rod 61 to a lever G2 which is pivoted at its lower end at 63 in a bracket 64 on one of the standards 2. The upper end of the lever 62`ex tends, as vshown in Figure 2, in the path of the press 10.`

Co-operating with the shaft 21 is a helical spring 67 normally tending to resist rotational movement impartedv to the rod by the selective devices and also tending to resist endwise movement of the rod 21.

lThe operation of the machine is as follovvs:

The material to be cut is secured to the top of the support 1. It is then determined from what part of the material the required shapes are to be cut and the particular selective device corresponding to that portion of the material determined upon is operated by moving the abutment 24 upwardly as described. This-has the eii'ect of moving the abutment 24 into the path of the abutment 29 and at the same time rotating the sha-ft 2l which, through the mechanism illustrated in` detail in Figure 6, throws the .clutchmember 38 into engagement with the clutchmember 36. The shaft is held in this adjusted position by the pawl 27 engaging behind one of the teeth 26 on the part 25. The

shaft 34 is thus caused to rotate so that the pulleys 65 and driving bands 66 draw the' the endwise movement of the rod 2l throws intooperation the one-revolution clutch 33 whereby the shaft 3 is rotated and, by means of the cams 4 and members 5, the frames 7 are moved .downwardly to force a cuttingknife, separate from or integral with the press, through the material. The drive, operating in conjunction with the clutch 33, may be connected with a pulley 69 loosely mounted on the shaft 3 but the driving-belt for this purpose, and its connection with thev power-shaft, is not shown. At the end of the cutting-operation the cam 59 comes into operation to press against the roller 58 to turn the rod 55 and through the parts 53, 52, 5l to engage the clutch-parts 37 39. This engagement causes the shaft 34 to rotate to return the press to the right of Figures 1 and 2 and towards the end of its travel in this direction the press engages the upper end of the lever 62, which, operating through the parts 61 and 60, turns the spindle 55 to disengage the clutch-parts 37, 39. Thus, the complete cycle of operations is effected, at the end of which the press is returned to its position of rest;

Thereafter any other one of the selective devices can be utilized to bring the press over another desired portion of the material to be cut and to effect a cutting-operation from the newly-selected portion.

It will be obvious that details of the mechanism may be modified in many ways to effect a similar cycle of operations without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What T claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A cutting machine comprising in combination a substantially horizontal support for the material to be cut, a knife press, means to reciprocate said press vertically over the'support, means to impart rectilinear movement to the press along the support, selective. mechanism manually operable to control automatically and in sequence the horizontal movementof the press up to one of a plurality of predetermined positions over the support, ythen the vertical reciprocation of the press to effect the cutting stroke, and subsequently the return of the press to its initial position on completion of said stroke, substantially as described.

2. A cutting machine comprising in combination a substantially horizontal. support for the material tocbe cut, a knife press, means to reciprocate said press vertically ever the support, means to impart rectilinear movement to the press along the support, a plurality of separate selective devices each of which is individually operable to control automatically and in sequence the horizontal movement of the press up to one of a plurality of predetermined positions over the support corresponding respectively to the aforesaid selective devices, followed by the vertical reciprocation of the press to effect the` cutting stroke, and by the return of the press to its initial position on completion yof said stroke, substantially as described.

3. A cutting machine comprising in combinationk a substantially horizontal support for the material to be cut, a knife press, means to reciprocate said press vertically over the support, means to impart yrecti-y linear movement to the press along the support, a plurality of selective devices each manually operable to control the movement of the press to a diderent position along the support, a control member actuated by said selective devices to effect the vertical cutting stroke of the press, and means automatically operable on completion of the cutting stroke to return the press to its starting position, substantially as described.

4. A cutting machine comprising in combination a substantially horizontal support for the material to be cut,` a knife press mounted for vertical reciprocation over the support and for translation along the support, power-'transmission mechanism to impart the reciprocating and translatory movements to the press, a control member eX- tending in the direction of the length of the support, rotatable about a fixed axis to couple ythe traversing drive of the press to the power-transmission mechanism, and movable endwise in the direction of that axis to couple the reciprocating drive of the press to said power' mechanism, a plurality of selective devices spaced apart along the length of the control member and each movable independently of the others to rotate the control member, an abutment on each selective device which on rotation of the latter is brought kinto the path traversed by a part of the knife press, means automatically operable on completion of the cutting stroke of the press to reverse the traversing drive thereof, and means to disconnect said traversing drive when the press reaches its starting position, substantially as described,

5. A cutting machine comprising in combination a substantially horiaontalsupport for the material to be cut, a knife press mounted for vertical reciprocation over the support and for translation along 'the support, poiveietransmission`mechanism to impart the reciprocating and translatory nieveinents to the press, a control member extending in the direct-ion of the length of the support and mounted for rotation about a fixed axis and for endwise movement in the direction of that axis, resilient `movement to resist the rotation and eiidivise movement of the control member, a plurality of selective 'de-- vices spaced apart along the control member and each movable independently of the others to rotate said member, a clutch device operated by the rotation of the control'` member to couple the power-transmission mechanism to the traversing drive of the press, anA abutment on each selectivedevice `adapted on rotation of the 'latter to be verse gear with the power transmission mechanism, and means operated by the press on reaching its starting position to disconneet said traversing drive, substantially as described. i Y

6. A cutting machine comprising in combination a substantially horizontal support for the material to be cut, a knife press mounted for vert-ical i'eciprocation over the support and for translation along the support, poWer-ti'ansmission mechanism to impart the reciprocating and translatory move ments to the press, a control member extending in the direction of the length of the support, rotatable about a lined axis to couple the traversing drive of the press to the poivei'-transmission mechanism, and movable endivise in the direction `of that axis to couple the reciprocating drive of the press to said poiver mechanism, spring means to oppose rotation and endivise movement of the control member, a plurality of selective devices mounted at intervals along` the control member, each device being free to rotate in one direction on said member but held against endwise movement thereon, an abutment on each selective device which von rotation of the latter is adapted to be broughtV cutting stroke of the press to reverse the traversing drive of the press, 'and means to disconnect said traversing drive when the press reaches its starting position, substantially as described.

7. A cutting machine comprising in com binatioii a substantially horizontal support for the material to be cut,` a substantially horizontell frame extending along the support and adapted to be reciprocated vertically, a knife press mounted for reciprocation by said frame and guided therein for horizontal movement along it and` over the surface of the support, power-transmission mechanism to reciprocate the frame and impart translation to the press along the frame, a control member extending in the direction ofthe length of the support at one side thereof and mounted for `rotation about a fixed aXis and forf endivise movement in the direction ofthat axis, spring means to oppose rotation and endvvise movement of the control member, a plurality of selective devices mounted at intervals along the control member, each device being free to rotate in one direction on said member but held against endivise movement thereon, a` clutch device operated by rotation of the control member to couple the power-transmission mechanism to the traversing drive of the press, a pawl and ratchet device to maintain the control member against the turning-effort of its spring inthe position to which it moved by rotation of a selective device, an abutment on each selectivedevice which on rotation of the latter is brought into the path traversed by a part of the press, means to release said pawl and ratchet when the control member is moved endivise, a onerevolution clutch operated by endwise movement of the control member to couple the powentransinission mechanism to the reciprocating drive of the press, means automatically actuated on the completion of the ciittino' stroke to couple the posier-transmis-` sion mechanism through a reverse gear with the traversing drive of the press, and means operated by the press on ieaching its starting position to disconnect said traversing guide, substantially as described.`

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HENRY HOVARD FREER.` 

